Asus has now officially announced its two latest Chromebooks, the Asus C200 and the C300.

Based on 13.3-inch (C300) and 11.6-inch (C200) screens, both with the same 1366x768 resolution, the two new Chromebooks both run on Intel's Silvermont Celeron N2830 dual-core CPU with 1MB of L2 cache and 2.4GHz clock. Both also pack a couple of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, SD card reader, 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 for connectivity, as well as a battery which should keep them alive for around 10 hours, according to Asus.

The difference is not only in the screen size as the smaller and cheaper Asus C200 Chromebook will also have 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal SSD storage while the larger Asus C300 comes with 4GB of RAM and will be available in 16GB and 32GB storage options.

Although it did not announce the exact price tag for the new devices, but it did say that both Chromebooks are expected on retail/e.tail shelves in June with a price starting at US $249.99.

LG has announced a rather interesting product, or should we say a unique product. The LG Chromebase is the world’s first all-in-one desktop powered by Google’s Chrome OS.

Until now Chrome OS was reserved for cheap notebooks, which were essentially a replacement for netbooks, although there are a few exceptions. The Chromebase is different and it looks quite a bit more serious.

It features a 21.5-inch 1080p IPS screen, 2GB of memory, 16GB of SSD storage and the show is powered by a Haswell-based Celeron processor. In terms of processing power, it should end up somewhat faster than Ivy Celeron Chromebooks, but unlike them it features a proper 1080p screen.

It also features a USB 3.0 port, three USB 2.0 ports, along with Ethernet, Wifi, HDMI and the usual array of AIO accessories, such as a keyboard and mouse. There is still no word on the price, but it should end up cheap.

This is a rather surprising move on LG’s part. Chrome OS is not exactly a popular choice for home and office desktops, but this is changing. The low cost of Chrome systems is making them attractive in some niche markets, e.g. some small businesses and education.

HP and Google have now officially announced the latest Chrome OS notebook, the HP Chromebook 11. Based on Samsung's Exynos 5250 dual-core SoC and built around an 11.6-inch IPS display, the new Chromebook 11 definitely aiming to be a decent portable notebook, especially with up to 6 hours of battery life.

HP managed to make a rather light thermal-bonded magnesium frame plastic chassis for the 11.6-inch Chromebook 11 which resulted in quite a low weigh of just above 1kg (2.3lbs). The precise dimensions are set at 29.7x19.1x1.7cm (11.7x7.55x0.7-inches) and it will be available in white or piano black color options with a choice of four different accent colors.

Although it's not as fast as some Intel CPUs in a couple of other Chromebooks, the Samsung Exynos 5250, now known as the Exynos 5 Dual, should provide enough performance for all usual daily tasks that you might want to do on a 11.6-inch notebook with 1366x768 resolution. The rest of the specifications include 2GB of RAM, 16GB of flash storage backed by free 100GB of Google Drive for two years, webcam, two USB 2.0 ports, microUSB port and enough battery to keep it running for up to 6 hours, according to HP. In a rather strange move, Google wanted the speakers below the keyboard and according to early hands-on experiences it appears to be a really good decision.

The most important detail is the price set at US $279 which is pretty much a steal considering that you get a system that can deal with all daily tasks, offers a decent keyboard and 6 hours of battery life. According to HP, it should already be available in the US and the UK while more countries are scheduled to get it in time for holidays.

There's been a steady flow of details regarding Acer's upcoming C720 Chromebook and according to the latest leak, this 11.6-inch Intel Celeron 2955U Haswell-equipped Chromebook might end up with an optional touchscreen as well.

While the Intel Celeron 2955U and support for up to 4GB of RAM should birng significantly better performance and more importantly longer battery life when compared to earlier ChromeOS notebooks, the new Acer C720 might also end up with an optional touchscreen as well.

According to details, Acer'S Chromebook C720 will be offered with either 2GB or 4GB of RAM as well as 16GB or 32GB of storage. It will not be the only Chromebook to feature a touch panel considering that Google's own Chromebook Pixel was equipped with one, but Acer's version will definitely be a lot cheaper than the $1,299 Pixel.

According to the rest of the details, the 11.6-inch screen will feature 1366x768 resolution and the C720 will also come with HDMI, USB 3.0, card reader, 720p webcam and 802.11abgn WiFi as well as a 3950mAh battery that should keep it going for around 6 hours. Unfortunately, it appears that both the RAM and the battery are not user replaceable which will not bode well with the DIY crowd and more experienced users.

Although most of the announcements made at Google's latest event were not a big surprise, the company managed to pull a shiny new rabbit out of its hat by announcing Chromecast, a smart HDMI stick device that runs on a proprietary version of Chrome OS, allows users to stream any content from "basically" any device via WiFi and even control some of the TV functions. Google Chromecast looks like an evolution of the Nexus Q, a short-lived device that never managed to get traction. Chromecast smells like Nexus Q done right.

Chromecast is a 2-inch long device that plugs into your spare HDMI input on the TV and naturally integrates Google's services like Youtube, Play Music, Play Video and Google's Chrome app. It sounds like great device that can even switch your TV on, find the right input source for itself and start playing whatever you decided to put on it via Chromecast button on some other device like the smartphone or tablet. It can even control the volume or skip videos and is capable of switching between devices since it is tied to your Google account.

It can also show your Chrome tabs and put them on the TV screen, browse photos on your Google+ account and do practically anything that you might want, stream from your portable device like a notebook, smartphone or tablet to your TV. The best part of the story is that it works on both Android and iOS and Google will also release the new Google Cast SDK for Android, iOS and Chrome (Windows, Mac OS and Chrome OS) that will allow third-party developers to add features.

Priced at US $35, the Chromecast is available on Google Play in the US for now and should be heading to retail on July 28th. Unfortunately, Google did not shed any light regarding the worldwide availability but hopefully we shouldn't wait too long.

Google again managed to launch an affordable device that practically has no direct competition on the market and we are sure that this little toy will be quite successful. You can check out a neat little video for Chromecast below.

AMD is finally taking Android seriously, but it doesn’t appear to be ready to make a serious commitment at this point.

AMD told CNET and PC World that it is indeed looking into Chrome OS and Android, but there’s nothing concrete yet. The first Temash tablets were showcased at Computex, but they run Windows, not Android. Meanwhile Intel is finally starting to score actual Android design wins with Z25xx Atoms and Nvidia has been in the ARM SoC market for years now.

There is a twist though. AMD is talking up custom APUs, which is hardly surprising as its Jaguar based products are probably the most competitive thing it has to offer. An AMD spokesperson told CNET that the company is committed to applying its intellectual property “anywhere where it makes sense” for its business and its customers. So basically AMD is telling the world that it’s willing and able to do custom Android chips, if anyone asks.

There is still no word on ARM-based parts though. AMD is working on ARM server chips, but there is still no indication that it is developing, or even considering consumer oriented ARM application processors. Unless someone kindly asks them to make some, of course.

Google has always marketed Chromebooks as cheap everyday notebooks, but it looks like it has just turned a new page by announcing its newest 12.85-inch Google Chromebook Pixel. All would be well if that new page did not look like it was taken out of Apple's textbook.

Chromebook Pixel aimes to grab some of that glory from the unbeatable but expensive Macbook Air with its 12.85-inch 2560x1700 (239 ppi) touchscreen hidden behind Gorilla Glass. As you can notice, the screen ends up with a rather strange 3:2 aspect ration designed to better fit web content and accoridng to Google's Chrome VP Sundar Pichai, this is a notebook on which you'll never ever see another pixel in your life.

Design wise, the Google Chromebook Pixel is machined from anodized aluminum and weighs 1.52kg/3.35 lbs. It measures 297.7x224.6x16.2 mm and uses some sort of "active cooling" with no visible vents.

Specification wise, the new Chromebook Pixel features a 1.8GHz clocked dual-core Core i5 CPU, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 4GB of RAM and either 32 or 64GB of SSD storage depending on the model. In case you are worried about storage, you will be happy to know that Google threw in a hefty 1TB of 3-year free Google Drive storage with every Pixel. The model with less storage will also be limited to WiFi, while the 64GB one will come with Verzion LTE, at least in the States.

It also features three microphones, 720p HD camera, custom Chrome backlit keyboard, two USB ports, mini DisplayPort output, SD card reader, WiFi and Bluetooth for connectivity (and LTE on bigger model). It features a 59Wh battery that should be enough to keep it running for up to 5 hours of active use, at least according to Google.

Now comes the bad side of the story as it is a direct competitor to the 13-inch US $1,499 MacBook Pro with Retina Display, which is by the way a much better system, the Google Chromebook Pixel starts at US $1,299 for the WiFi-only 32GB model, shipping next week, and US $1,449 for the 64GB one which will be available in early April.

Lenovo has decided that it is just about the right time to join the Chromebook race with the likes of Samsung and Acer and it did do by announcing its own version, based on the familiar Thinkpad X131 design.

The Thinkpad X131e Chromebook, as Lenovo decided to call it, features pretty much all the same specs as the X131 so you are looking at 11.6-inch 1366x768 anti-glare screen, a yet to be specified Intel CPU, three USB ports, probably 2GB of RAM and a minimum amount of storage, most likely enough for the Chrome OS while the rest will be cloud-based. It also comes with WiFi connectivity as well as VGA and HDMI outputs.

The new Thinkpad X131e Chromebook also comes with a recognizable Thinkpad keyboard and touchpad as well as the Thinkpad "rugged features" since it is mainly aimed at schools. It simplifies software and security management for school administrators and provides students and teachers with quick access to thousands of apps, education resources and storage, according to Lenovo.

The battery life is rated at "an entire school day" and at less than four pounds it is surely portable.

The new ThinkPad X131e Chromebook will be available as of February 26th via special bid since it is aimed solely at schools and school programs so we guess that we will not see in retail/e-tail anytime soon.

During the second day of its Google I/O developers conference, Google took some time to brag about its Google Drive cloud storage service. The service now has over 10 million people and yes, we still think the Google Drive app needs quite a bit more work.

Although 10 million does not sound like a big number compared to other cloud services, it is still about a million per week since it was launched. In addition to that number, Google also announced a client for Chrome OS and iOS. Chrome OS and iOS will be joining Windows, Mac and Android support.

Acer's own vision of Chromebook is finally in stock over at Amazon.com for US $349. The AC700-1099 as Acer decided to brand it is pretty much what you would expect from an 11.6-inch netbook, including a low price.

The 11.6-inch LED-backlit screen has a 1366x768 resolution and features a matte coating, something that you have to appreciate if you ever used a glare-screen notebook on a sunny day. You also get a full-sized Chrome Keyboard as well as an oversized multi-touch touchpad. Of course, since we are talking about Chromebook, you'll see a Chrome OS running up on this one.

Credit goes to guys over at Netbooknews.com for spotting this one and you can check out more info here.